The Union Health Ministry has made registration of imported cosmetic products with the Drug Controller General of India mandatory in order to prevent counterfeits and parallel import  In a recent move by the Union Health Ministry, registration of imported cosmetic products with the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has been made mandatory,post amendment of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules (1945). The decision follows the domestic cosmetic industry’s request to the government to take necessary steps to streamline import formalities for foreign-made cosmetics to prevent malpractices such as counterfeits and illegal parallel import of products from other markets by unauthorised importers.On registering with DGCI, the applicant will receive a registration certificate, which will be valid for 3 years, unless cancelled or suspended earlier on account of non-compliance. The rule is set to become mandatory from April 2011. For long, imported cosmetics only required basic clearances from the Customs Department.
Industry welcomes the move
In an exclusive interview with a Retailing360 correspondent, Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers’ Association of India, while welcoming the move, stressed upon the need to expedite the formalities involved in the new rule. He opines, “Every cosmetic product has a shelf life. Any loophole in implementing the formalities would mean compromising with the shelf life; the government should ensure that does not happen.”
According to industry insiders, the government should have taken this step long back, as the reputation of many big companies suffered due to malpractices in the industry. However, Mr Rajagopalan dismissed the fear that big companies would henceforth dither to do business with India. “Serious companies would anyway continue doing business here because they know India has a decent market,” he adds.
Even though the step comes as a sigh of relief, some worry about its effective implementation. “Only making new rules will not help, the government has to implement and monitor it diligently,” says Sanjay Bhagat, executive at Tressbay, a Loreal collaboration salon in Kolkata.
It must be noted that branded cosmetic companies, mid-sized healthcare and pharmaceutical companies in India, henceforth, will also have to get registered with DCGI, so as to check entry of duplicate versions of their products in the market.
Shalmoli Kundu |
